Ryman pair count the cost of broken dreams - EXCLUSIVE

Today’s miserable weather sums up the mood amongst Ebbsfleet United, Bromley, Tonbridge Angels and Folkestone Invicta - full of regret that they’re not hosting FA Cup first round ties in two weeks time, writes Stephen McCartney.

The quartet were just one win away from the glitz and glamour of staging home FA Cup First Round ties - but all fell at the final hurdle yesterday, and fans and officials are all suffering from Cup hangovers today.

Exeter City, Eastbourne Borough, Ware and Billericay Town can all start preparing for their First Round ties, whilst the Kent sides pick up the pieces of broken dreams, and players not performing, when it mattered most!

“My opinion, it was embarrassing, the worst performance of the season so far - unacceptable,” was Nick Sullivan, the chairman of Tonbridge Angels, view of their 3-1 defeat at Ryman League Division One North outfit Ware, when he spoke EXCLUSIVELY to www.kentishfootball.co.uk today.

Ware, who went into the game at Wodson Park having won six and drawn one of their seven home games, including a 4-0 thumping of Dartford earlier in the season, look forward to hosting Blue Square Premier outfit Kidderminster Harriers.

“They’re not bad, they’re young, they’ve been together for three or four years,” Mr Sullivan said of their victors.

“On their home patch, it’s a 9 ft slope from one end to the other.

“At the end of the day, we have to turn up and we didn’t show enough - it was embarrassing!

“We didn’t deserve to go through. If it wasn’t for (goalkeeper) Matt Reed, it could have been a lot more!

At least 400 Angels supporters battled through the traffic chaos on the M25 motorway to watch their side slump.

“It should have been a lot more,” admitted a fuming Mr Sullivan. “Apart from Matt Reed no-one turned up. He’s saved a penalty and pulled off three great saves in the second half.

“If it weren’t for him, it was Read against them at times. It was embarrassing!”

However, the only positives from their six-match FA Cup campaign, has been the £11,000 earned in prize money from the Football Association - but it could, and should - have been a lot more.

Mr Sullivan added: “The only plus point is prize money, which you don’t budget for.”

Folkestone Invicta’s chairman Mr Bob Dix , meanwhile, has told manager Neil Cugley that he must release players before he can bring in new additions.

Invicta were knocked out of the FA Cup by a Billericay Town side, whose striker Joe Flack took his goalscoring tally to seventeen for the season, with a brace at Cheriton Road.

The Essex side could expect the television cameras to New Lodge in a couple of weeks time, hosting Coca Cola League One outfit Swansea City.

Like Tonbridge, Folkestone Invicta started in the first qualifying round, and have played six games, which included two replay’s, and have banked £11,000 in prize money.

And Cugley wants to use some of this money to bring in “a couple of quality players” to transform the side into “play off material.”

“We’ve got a bit more of a stable board and everything and hopefully I won’t get the dreaded “can I have a cup of coffee” and two or three players go,” said Cugley, who was forced to release Londoners Ellis Remy and Samuel Kola Okikiolu following their FA Cup and FA Trophy exits last season due to financial restraints.

“If anything, we need to improve the squad, not let it go.

“You have to bring, I think, a couple of quality players in, for us to get up there and I think we be in the play-off’s if we did that.

“If we get two quality players in now I think we could be play-off material.”

But Folkestone chairman Mr Dix received a couple of blows yesterday.

“It’s always disappointing especially when you see the draw afterwards,” he said, speaking in his first EXCLUSIVE interview with www.kentishfootball.co.uk.

"I think two things are wrong there. They always have the (first round) draw straight after the (fourth qualifying round) game and the teams who get knocked out it just gives you another kick in the teeth really from what you had during the day.”

As well as the prospect of welcoming Kidderminster Harriers in the first round proper, Billericay Town also pocketed £10,000 in prize money following their comfortable 2-0 win at Cheriton Road.

“Also another thing with the FA is, I can never understand why they don’t share the prize money,” questioned Mr Dix.

“The two clubs participating (should) share the prize money, half each, and the winner goes on to have a half share of the next round.

“It always leaves a little team, whether its us or somebody else - it’s not sour grapes - we went three games, three wins, three lots of input and it’s been good.

“But I can never understand, it was £10,000, both clubs have £5,000. The winner goes on and get a share of £20,000 (and) next round they get £10,000.

“Even if you lose or come out of it, you’re going to get rewarded for it. Today we didn’t get anything!”

But Mr Dix revealed that boss Cugley will not receive any of the finance gained from their FA Cup exploits.

“We’re always going to struggle down here because we haven’t got the catchment area,” explained Mr Dix.

“We had a good crowd of 659, good crowd, we was happy with the crowd. We took over £4,000 through the gate, which is brilliant.

“At the moment we’re quite stable and we’ve got the extra directors in. When we did that (released players following Cup exits) we didn’t have the other directors in.

“Now we’ve got six directors sitting round the table. It’s just not one person making the decisions like I did last year.

“I could see we would finish up going a lot in debt. I said to Neil I’ve got to let players go.

“But looking at today, I’d like to think that we could probably change a couple of players, that if a player goes out, we’ll get a replacement going in.

“Obviously what money that’s come in is going to the club and go to the playing side of it.

“But Neil’s on his budget and what he’ll have to do (if) players go he’ll just have to replace them.

“I think we’ve got a good team here anyway, we’ve got a good squad with about sixteen players, it’s the best squad we’ve had since we’ve been here.

“It’s very good but we just have to find somebody whose going to score the goals, or create the chances.”

“Oh yes, we couldn’t bring any more players in, it’s not fair really. It’s not fair on the club because you’re going to put the club backwards a little bit.

“If Neil wants a player in, he’s got to release a player - and he knows that. We’re a little club, relying on people, sponsors, everything.”

But Mr Dix has issued a rallying cry to the Folkestone public to get behind their Ryman Premier League Club - he wants crowds of over 500 on a regular basis.

He said: “Five hundred people locally, if they come along every week that would be fine.

“Five hundred (people) would do us, lovely, so it’s possible. They’re out there, but they just seem to come out of the woodwork for the FA Cup games, not the League games.”

Invicta welcome Kentish rivals Margate to the Buzzlines Stadium, Cheriton Road on Monday night (7:45pm), whilst Tonbridge Angels travel to AFC Hornchurch (Bridge Avenue) on Tuesday night as both clubs return to the bread and butter of life in the Ryman Premier League.